Alonso: We learned valuable lessons

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After storming past the Ferrari of pole-sitter Felipe Massa in the first corner, Alonso never looked back during 56 laps of the Sepang circuit and eventually cruised to victory by more than 17 seconds from team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

"Australia has been a very particular race, a very different race compared to other circuits in the championship," Alonso said. "I think we learned a lot in the first race about the tyres, how they behaved over the race stints and some other lessons that we can use for the rest of the season, not just here."

He added: "We also had some developments on the car and we put everything together, so we are there."

At one point it seemed Hamilton, who became the first person in 43 years to claim two podiums in his first two races, could even nick a maiden win as he started reeling the Spaniard in over the middle part of the race, during which the British driver posted the fastest lap of the afternoon with a time of one minute 36.701 seconds.

But Alonso revealed he started to lose time as he was forced to undertake some careful car management to make it to the chequered flag in what was his toughest period of the afternoon.

"I was taking care of the tyres in the first 10 or 12 laps of that stint because I knew it was important to keep them in condition," he added.

"I think I spent four laps behind (Vitantonio) Liuzzi, during which I lost three or four seconds. In the high-speed corners I was losing a lot. It was a difficult middle stint."

He was, however, delighted to have secured a maiden win for his new McLaren team.

"I think it's very important for me to get my first win, it keeps your motivation very high," he added. "To win a Formula One Grand Prix with two different teams is something special."